You Are So Loved
by Magic Flying Spud
Summary: Role Reversal AU. Kim Possible is the mercenary-for-hire and Shego is the hero saving the world on the reg.
1. Chase Me

It starts off like any other day.

Aviarius, Electronique, and Mathter team up to take Team Go out once and for all — it makes Shego laugh because at least taking the three of them out at once will clear her calendar out for the week.

But wait — there's more! A bank robbery! Just some dumbass cretins who really want that street cred from nabbing cash in _her_ city.

Meanwhile,_ a subway train goes off the rails!_ Will Team Go get there in time to save the day?! Find out next time! Same Go-Time, Same Go-Channel!

Ugh.

The robbery — that's fun. She practices her juggling with the goons and has a blast. But it ends promptly because Hego just _has to_ barge in and cuff 'em so they can stop the fucking train from — god. Why does he always have to be the _worst_?

She spends most of her time filing her nails during the rescue mission. Her powers are all offensive — not really useful for the spelunking debonair that Hego, Mego, and the Wegos have to do. Of course she gets chastised for not tagging along — _at least show up so that people know you care!_

But the people of Go City already know she doesn't care, so what's the point? The only one not in on the joke is Hego. Sweet, naive Hego.

She yawns. It's crazy, if she really wanted to she could craft this whole average ol' day for Team Go into a stellar memoir that sweeps the nation. People would eat that shit up but then again...making a memoir also means _writing_. Writing means being _exciting_.

Shego is decidedly _not_ excited. For anything. Like if she has to schmooze at another one of those stupid, remarkably ineffective fundraisers, pretending to laugh at the jokes of balding white men...fuggedaboutit! There is no denying it; Shego is _bored_.

But that changes this evening. When the black drapes itself over the city, things get popping and Shego encounters something — some_one_ — that changes everything. But we'll get to that.

Though you already know _who_ this is. I mean c'mon, you read the ticket stub right?

It's a tech heist. Some geek junk, she doesn't really care. Point is the loot is in their backpacks. That's all she cares about. Not the _heinous injustice that our youth have sunk to_!Fuck that noise. She's more concerned about the fact that these guys are a breath of fresh air. See, check this out.

No wacky gimmicks, no monikers, no costumes, not even domino masks. Just two kids, or like, people her age. But they're younger than the usual crowd. Red is the ringleader by a long shot, she leads Shego into a chase that actually exhausts her, and the kid doesn't even have superpowers! At least from Shego can tell.

Blondie on the other is a big buffoon. She's 100% cetain that he is her sidekick. He yelps in fear at the sight of her dumb brothers and starts knocking things over to distract them.

Shego can't quite put her finger on it, but she knows Red somehow. She's got this wavy mane of auburn, wide green eyes, a round face, rose-tinted skin, bushy eyebrows, and sheer_ grit_ in her expression. Red twists and kicks like a dancer, spinning and pirouetting with finesse and ease. It doesn't even matter that Shego's plasma flares are kicked up into high gear because none of the flurries get remotely close to the thief. Not even a sizzle.

Worse yet, the girl quips like she's freakin' Spider-Man. It kinda pisses Shego off. She's here to fight, not play linguistic ballet.

Quipping is dumb — Shego could design a spreadsheet illustrating how many times her brothers have been sucker punched while saying certain kinds of quips. Huh. Maybe she could do that instead of this dumb shit. Become like an analyst who like figures out the optimum models for super-heroism.

Oy vey.

Shego ends up quipping anyways — once the girl pins her to the floor. Like, how can she not? It's kinda kinky. The girl forces Shego's wrists to the floor and hovers over her for a moment, looking at her face for a little too long. It's strange — as her head blots out the skylight and her face slinks into the shadows above her, Red stiffens. Despite the dark, that _grit_ in her mouth still shows.

"Still running around with lunkheads, I see. What's that about?" the girl drawls, but raw emotion prickles all over. This girl...cares?

Shego furrows her brow. "Hego wonders the same thing about me every day. You should ask him, _Princess_ — "

Shego kicks the girl in the stomach and manages to pile drive her into the cement floor. Shego twists back, crouched way down to the floor, preparing her plasma charges. Red recovers fast and rushes forward, hitting the ground at a roll, _just _maneuvering between two blasts like she's some kind of reckless pilot from World War II. Red's hands flash out and smack Shego's wrists again.

"You're kinda kinky — " Shego starts to laugh when _crack!_ the girl's boot nails her in the jaw. White dots blur her vision and before they blip out of the way two fists to the face, _bam!_

All because she quipped like a total stooge.

(In Shego's defense, quipping has done this to her brothers like a _gazillion_ times. One mark on the record ain't too bad.)

"Ron! Stop messing around!" Red hollers. Immediately her sidekick, still knocking expensive shit over like nobody's business, gives Red a thumbs up and vaults over a table, doing some serious parkour to make it to her before Shego can get back up.

Wait.

Ron.

Blond.

Blond Ron? Nonono. Wait. Freckles?! She sees freckles as he runs by!

...Ron. She knows this kid!? Wow, too bad, puberty hasn't done him any favors apparently, but she knows him because they went to high school together. Ron Stoppable, it has to be — well. Who cares about _him_ really, the girl is the prize because —

"Kim?!" Shego blurts out. "Kim Possible!?"

The girl stops in place and turns back, brushing the hair from her eyes. "Took you long enough, _Sheila_. You look good by the way, been working out?"

"KP! Stop flirting with the enemy!" Ron yelps, reaching into his baggy cargo pants and pulling out a little remote control that looks like it got stuck to a wad of gum. "Rufus, buddy, get outta here." He grabs the pink blob resting on the remote and yanks it away, unveiling a big red button. The blob — a naked mole rat apparently — climbs onto Blondie's shoulder just as he gleefully pressed the button, and blows out a hole in the ceiling. A rope ladder descends fast — typical — and the two grab onto it just as it lifts high into the air.

Fuck. Kim Possible. _The _Kim Possible. Of all the people to stomp back into her life, it had to be her. The one that kind of sort of got away —

— ah shit, Blondie dropped the gross little rat thing.

Shego catches Rufus because she's not an asshole. So far this has still been a typical superhero throw-down — in her line of work you get blasts from the past on the reg. But what happens next is the thing that turns it all on its head.

A cloud of dust kicks up as someone harshly crashes into the floor, descending from way up high. Before she can figure out what happened, a fist swings at her from the dust.

Oh. It's Blondie. Wait. If he's down here already, he must have jumped from all the way —

"Are you crazy?!" Shego yells.

Blondie's legs are all screwed up from the fall. He grimaces and swings at her again. "I'm not leaving Rufus behind!" he growls and — well — Shego's not down to clown… with him at least. So she knees him in the stomach and he crumples up fast. She glances up and sees the last rung of the rope ladder vanish into the night.

"Some best friend you picked there, huh?" Shego snarks to Blondie's unconscious body.

"Yes. He picked me out preeeeetty well."

Kim stands high above Shego on a girder, hands on her hips, haughty as ever. "Ron's very important to me so let's make a deal, yeah?"

"Yeah," Shego narrows her eyes and checks her shoulder. Her brothers are _still _fumbling with all of that junk Blondie knocked over. She blows a loose hair out of her eyes and turns back to Kimmie. She mirrors the haughty hip pop and cranes her neck. "All the stolen geek junk for the rat."

Kim hesitates, but still slings her backpack off, dropping it besides her. "Fine, but what about Ron? I don't know what else I can give up."

Shego didn't think that far. Because no villain has ever done something like this with her before. "What?"

"Ron's my best friend. He comes with me."

"Well — your goon is also a criminal and he's knocked out so…."

"_Not quite!_"

Ron springs back up and wraps his noodle arms around her head — fucking kid played possum! Ooh! That makes her mad. Shego spins and kicks and tries to throw him off — but he just hangs there. It's not even like he's impervious to damage — she feels his lean body taking each and every hit, and she hears his wracking coughs but he stays there, all the while shouting at KP to move on and go without him.

Which obviously she's not. It's fucking bizarre. Who does this? They're villains, aren't they? He's a sidekick! A common mook! Ditch him!

At some point, the boy's thumbs sink into her eyes and it hurts like a fucking bitch. She loses her patience and blasts him in the stomach. It burns a bit more than she intended and he soars high into the air. The black sweater flutters around him and she can see the massive hole she burned out. She feels bad for a second but then the kid pulls out a hair drier and shouts "BOOYAH!"

Ron throttles into the air, head bumping against the girder Kim stands on. He falls but manages to grab onto some of the piping with one hand. "KP," he wheezes. "Rufus. Take care of him." His scrawny arm pulls with all of its might and for a moment, he's totally level with the crouched Kim. The ugly rat scurries out from under his sleeve, hopping onto Kim's hands. Shego's hands smack across her body; she doesn't have a clue when Ron pickpocketed her.

Very quickly, Ron's arm snaps and he falls. Kim screams and nearly shoots off the girder leaning out to grab him, one arm catching him and stretching as far as it can go. Kim tries to lift him but she's not strong enough for that kind of heave-ho. She kicks the iron and pulls, face going red, but it's clearly not happening.

For a second, Shego considers helping them. They _care_ about each other. That's more than she can say about her brothers...but they are finally wrapping up and if her brothers see this, Kim and Ron will both be in orange jumpsuits.

For some reason, Shego doesn't like that image very much. At least for Kimmie.

"KP, you gotta let me go or they'll get both of us," Ron wheezes.

Kim looks past the girder and sees Team Go approaching fast. "No, Ron. I love you — "

— for some reason, hearing Kim say that to such a doofus makes Shego's heart ache —

" — you're my best friend," Kim finishes, her voice a bit higher than she probably wants it to be.

Ooooooh...best friend? _That_ is something Shego can get behind.

Shego looks up and snaps a few times. Kim looks past Ron and down to her.

"_Go,_" Shego only mouths the words. "_It'll be okay._"

Kim gives one last look to Ron and finally drops him, and she's out of the lab before the boy even hits the ground.

* * *

Blondie has to hit the hospital before anyone even thinks about tossing him in the slammer. The burns Shego gave him are pretty gnarly, though after an hour lecture about _morality_ from Hego, Shego forgets why it's even that big of a deal. She's conflicted over it. On one hand, the kid's a normie. Totally didn't have it coming. On the other hand, he's very annoying. Totally _did_ have it coming.

Either way, the only way to get out of taking the Go Jet home with her brothers is to chill out in the hospital for an extra half hour, feigning kindness by watching Blondie take a snooze on the wafer thin mattress.

This is a decision that she regrets. Because twenty five minutes into the half hour, Blondie gets a visitor and it turns out Ron and her share mutual acquaintances.

Ann is a doctor, a damn good one at that. Red hair, bob cut, blue eyes, rose-tinted skin, a bit of a resting smirk. Looks a lot like —

— no. That'd be weird, wouldn't it? Besides, Shego _knows_ who Kim's parents are. Granted, they're both men and — nah nah nah. No way. Ann and Shego are _friends_, she would know if Ann had a daughter.

The friendship ignited after Shego overdid it during _The Battle to End All Battles_ (as Hego christened it, Shego calls it an average Sunday morning), and wound up getting carried out on a stretcher. The doctor that cared for her was very sweet, and two ended up talking a lot. She's far older than Shego but hey, she's always gotten along better with older people anyways.

"Long day?" Ann asks, taking Shego's hand and sitting besides her.

Shego raises an eyebrow at the touch. She's still not used to platonic intimacy, but it's just Ann. Shego grumbles something and digs her hands deeper into her track jacket. "Yeah," she grunts noncommittally. Shego's not supposed to be so liberal about the whole secret identity charade when she's in civilian mode but she can't lie about that shit to someone she's close to.

Y'know, to have a friend and not tell them? Her brothers don't get it, but then again, her brothers' only friends are each other and _she_ is friends with… erm — Ann. So there!

"Don't feel too bad about this one," Ann chides. Ann never needs to ask what's bothering Shego. "Ron Stoppable is a mercenary. If anything, he's fortunate to be here. Lots of untreated wounds that he really needed someone to look at it. Maybe play it cooler next time though," she squeezes Shego's knee. Not flirtatiously or anything. Friends. _Maybe _paternally. She doesn't really know.

"What's up?" Shego asks after an overlong pause.

Ann frowns. "Can we talk?"

* * *

Of course Ann didn't want to talk right then, of course she just _had_ to make Shego wait a few freaking hours for her to punch out.

It's fine. Gives her an excuse to sleep in and maybe play hooky on Aviarius' 9AM bank robbery. She smiles at the thought of it.

It's 3AM, and the two are both very quiet walking down this puddle laden street. It's Shego's first time seeing Ann in her civvies — a bomber jacket matched with black skinny jeans. Definitely not what Shego expected. Very strong butch vibes.

Ann crosses her arms because it's cold — or maybe because Shego's supposed to take her hand? No. God no. She keeps her hands plowed into her pockets, hoping this isn't what she thinks it is.

Then they get to the gay bar.

"Whoa whoa!" Shego backs off, hands waving frantically in the air. "Ann, I like you a lot but — "

Ann titters and pinches Shego's cheek. "That's cute. You're cute. Sheila, read the room, you're half my age, we're good. Besides, I'm twice taken."

"Twice?" Shego raises an eyebrow. "Who? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked," Ann shrugs and tucks some hairs behind her ear. "Now — don't get rowdy on me. We're about to meet some people. They're — it'd be easier for you to just meet them, it's complicated."

Shego bites her lip. "My kind of people or yours?"

"Both."

They go in. It's pretty barren, a little seedy too. Drinks look cheap though. She's actually kind of aggravated that Mego didn't take her _here_ on her birthday… purple boy still doesn't get that she's 100% gay. Oh well, it's kind of fun watching her brothers fuck these kind of things up.

Immediately, Shego spots two men sitting close together at the bar. She recognizes one of them without hesitation. That clean-cut gray hair is unmistakable. It's James Possible, a rocket scientist and also Kim's father. Which means… Shego narrows her eyes and looks back to Ann, quickly mouthing, "_Why didn't you tell me?!"_ and groans loud before stomping over to James with an extended arm.

"Hey — um — Mister P?" Shego squeaks, shaking his hand.

"Jim's fine, thanks for coming," Jim looks to the man next to him and pats him on the back. "And this is my husband — "

"Andrew Lipsky," the man says. Broad-shouldered, black mullet, ragged ponytail, scar running down the cheek. Tiny fingers, very weird. Voice is dark yet warm. Grin is like a shark's. He hastily pushes his bifocals back up his nose before taking Shego's hand into his. "I've heard so much about your exploits, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Ah," Shego says dryly. "Um — I'm sorry, fellas but I'm not really getting what's going on right now."

Ann slips into the stool besides James, quickly draping herself over his back, reaching over to fix Drew's messy hair. Shego watches the whole thing play out like she has to rewind the tape to make sure she didn't miss something. Ann chuckles and drums her fingers against Jim's sloping shoulder.

James is positively _glowing_. "So Shego. It's come to our attention that you just met _our_ daughter tonight..."

Shego snaps and points to Ann. "Surrogate mom?"

Ann snorts, fingers intertwining with Drew's, James briefly pecking the underbelly of her wrist with a kiss as it passes over. "As if."

Shego rewinds the tape again. "Um. Oh! You're — wow. Didn't expect _that_. Up to speed."

"No worries," Ann laughs, whispering directly into James' ear. "Jim?"

James blushes. "Obviously our Kimmie-cub hasn't really been on the right track lately and we thought…um..."

"James, I've got it," Drew slips in. For some reason, he seems a lot more plugged into this sort of thing. Doesn't even bat an eye in the face of a bona fide superhero. "Our Kimberly has become a mercenary. We've tried to turn a blind eye to her work but — a lot of people are gunning for her now. Your brothers incuded, and the agency I used to work for…"

"Global Justice?" Shego suggests.

"Mm," Drew yanks out the hair tie and lets his greasy black locks drape over his shoulders. "Perhaps you've heard of my work then. I go by a _moniker_ to keep our family protected from riff-raff."

"Nah," Shego shrugs.

"Hm. Give it a moment. It'll come to you. Doctor…"

Shego purses her lips.

Drew's brow furrows. "Doctor Deee…"

Shego shrugs.

"Doctor...Draaaaaah…"

Shakes her head.

"Drakken!"

Raises an eyebrow.

"Doctor Drakken!"

Fails to suppress a chuckle. "Doctor Drakken?"

"Ah-HA-haha! I see my reputation precedes me!"

Meanwhile, James and Ann are tittering up the soundscape to playtime at daycare.

Shego mutters "Oy." under her breath. She does actually know who this is — Doctor Drakken is a scientist specializing in arms manufacturing. She's had tabs on him and his _agency _for a long time now. Can't be too careful. "So what? Cyclops puts her _eye_ on Kimmie and you amscray?"

"Something like that," Drew leers at her. "Kimberly is a good person. She's just — messed up, is all. We thought maybe you could help us."

Shego looks the three of them over; their eyes all so wide and hopeful. It makes her want to vom. "I don't know… My brothers definitely wouldn't approve."

Ann groans, stealing some of James' appletini. "Sheila, you _hate_ your brothers. Why don't you just quit already?"

"Well — whatever happened to truth, justice, and the American way, eh?" Shego itches the back of her neck. "I don't know honestly, this gig is dicey. Don't tell anyone I told you but — Princess was kind of a handful tonight. I'm not even confident I can smack handcuffs on her, let alone convert her into being a goodie goodie two shoes."

A little pause settles over.

"_Princess_?" James repeats.

"That's cute," Drew smirks.

"Very," Ann adds on.

"Oops," Shego groans. "I didn't — fuck. I didn't say that, I mean like — the point is — I have enough on my plate as is, and I can't handle a gig like this solo — "

"_Don't matta!_ As the — erm — kids say," Drew stands up with poise, one hand folded behind his back, the other ready for a handshake. "_I_ will be accompanying you on this little journey — " Not knowing there's a little dip in flooring behind his stool, Drew trips and James quickly catches him by the chest. Drew laughs it off and re-adjusts his glasses. " — I am a _genius_ after all."

"Um — " Shego looks over to Ann, her being the most credible of the lot. " — you want me to do a team-up episode with Poindexter over here? No thanks."

"Shego!" Drew whines. "Words hurt! You'll need me if you're taking on Global Justice."

"Yeah, _if_, as in _so _not. I'd rather take the bounty I'm sure they put on her," Shego drawls. "Either way, Cupcake is — " Drew crosses his arms. " — what?"

Drew waggles a tiny finger at her. "My my Shego, with all the pet names, I'm concerned about you being around my daughter, so I'd like to chaperone."

"Ditto," James offers, throwing an arm around Drew. "We know it's a lot to ask, and we don't have anything to offer, but — we just figured… you of all people — "

" — would understand," Ann presses her cheek up against James' shoulder blade.

Drew's eyebrows pop up seductively and he purrs, "Or you could do it for _love_."

"Ohmigod _fine_," Shego grabs Drew's hand and yanks him over, rapidly shaking his arm, so much so that the pencil thin dweeb _rattles_.

"I'll save your fucking whacked out, estranged, and admittedly _gorgeous_ daughter from herself. Happy?"


	2. But Don't Follow Me

Kim Possible has never been inside of a prison before, so even Wade, her tech guy, is a little squeamish about letting her do this job. But once Kim sets her mind to something, there really is no stopping her. Ron is family — no way is she leaving him behind.

She lands nimbly on the prison floor, coated in shadows. She's timed out her entrance so that she is the farthest possible distance from any of the guards in this rotation. It took weeks to gather the intel and strategize the game plan. It was nauseating, having to wile away the time researching and mapping rather than moving. But right upon landing, once it strikes her that she's totally invisible to anyone who can get in her way, she's grateful for the lost time. After what went down versus Team Go, she can't afford anymore foul ups; her employers are not particularly patient after all.

Kim darts from shadow to shadow, pressing her body tight against the walls. Her outfit is a little less showy than usual: crimson turtleneck, sleeves that stop at the shoulder, heavy gray gloves, form fitting black pants, and a simple hair tie to keep her auburn locks out of her face. The ensemble makes her feel a little more focused because it's not the usual. The crop top and cargo pants combo is easily her favorite — but it feels wrong to wear it without Ron at her side. There's a reason they match. But the new uniform's just for tonight. Within ten minutes by her calculations, Kim'll be on her way out with Ron in hand.

She finds Ron's cell fast. He sleeps alone apparently. A see-through wall as thick as her thighs is all that separates the two. She just has to breach that, and that's no problem. Not with Wade's gadgets. She pulls the laser lipstick from her satchel before Ron even stirs from the noise. "Time check," she whispers.

"_Kim, stop rushing. You're ahead by two minutes, you're going to need to wait out the extra two when you're done with the door,_" Wade tells her through the ear piece.

"Why? We need to bolt ASAP," she says fast.

"_I don't know where the guards will be if you don't take the two. Like I keep saying, Kim, this is a bad idea_."

"Of course it's a bad idea," she snaps. "But we don't really have any other optio—oh. Hey Ron."

"Hey," the blond boy yawns, itching his neck, eyeballing the red laser slowly eating its way through the wall. "Kim, are you crazy? There's no way you can get me outta here."

She grimaces. "There is a way and you're looking at it right now. Just hang tight."

Ron shuts his mouth and watches the laser go, something rumbling in his throat. He's so pale now. Whatever Shego hit him with really did a number on him…

"Did you bring Rufus?" he asks sheepishly.

Kim's grimace snaps into a warm smile. "Of course Ron." She reaches into her utility belt and pops open one of the notches. The little pink blob slinks out and scurries into Kim's waiting hands. She lifts him up to Ron's eye level and and they have to shoosh him when his tiny claws patter frantically against the wall.

Ron wipes what might be tears from his freckle-speckled cheeks and looks at Kim, suddenly a little cold. "Just wanted to see him one last time. Thanks, Kim — but you need to go now. I want to stay here. Forget about me, okay? Start off fresh, get healthy and — "

"What?" she nearly shouts, punching a fist into the wall. It quavers for a second before she relaxes, hand opening and pressing into it as if it might phase through and touch him. "Ron, we've got a good thing going. If we keep things up, we can retire in like a year or two!"

Ron shakes his head and steps back. "I'm sure it'll be a great retirement, Kim, but it doesn't matter if we don't make it that far. Believe it or not, I'm actually kinda grateful they caught me."

Kim doesn't notice herself doing it, but she stuffs the laser away. Whoever she came here for isn't around anymore, might_ never _be around again. Unless she can work things out. Because there's always a way to do that. She just needs to say the right words. But when her mouth opens, she's at an absolute loss.

How is this happening? Ron's her best friend, she's known him since they were four. How is it possible that she can't find the words that will set him back on the right track?

Idiot!

She punches the glass with both fists, dragging her knuckles against the surface. She says something here, she doesn't remember what, but she does.

Ron slides his palm up between hers. He's so expressionless. Like it can't be his face, maybe it's a mask or something. Maybe he got screwed up more than she thought —

"Remember when we lifted that junk from Global Justice last month?" Ron says dryly.

"Yeah?" Kim asks, not sure where this is going.

"That agent guy, the rude one who kept calling us amateurs," Ron frowns. "Remember how he stabbed me in the ribs on the way out? Yeah — totally infected. I'm lucky someone caught it, but no one would have known unless I was forced to go to the hospital."

Kim's face falls because she sees his point. Hugging her elbows, she tries to hold strong. "Okay, so we've collected a few bruises and burns we should have taken better care of, but that's no reason to walk. We can still do a change-up." She eggs closer to Ron, almost nose to nose aside from the barrier. "I've been out of town for a few days doing jobs for the Seniors. It's going to be a big payout, and like — that's the answer to all our problems."

Ron's face drains of all color aside from the freckles, which dot his cheeks like puncture holes now. "Kim. Don't make me do something I'll regret."

Kim's brow furrows. "I love you, Ron, but you're seriously talking nonsense. Let's just focus on busting you out for now — once we're scot free, we can talk, okay?"

Wade's voice nags away at her, "_Kim. Ron __**is**__ being serious right now. Serious face and all, you gotta bail."_

"No," Kim mutters then looks up at Ron, who's staring at her like a deer in headlights. "Ron. Up and at 'em. Get your stuff ready."

"_No_."

Her heart stops; Ron's never said _No_ to her before. If even Ron is telling her _No_ then maybe — maybe she really should...no, no way! She's not leaving him behind! She can't. Not now.

Ron continues, "Everyone and their grandmother has superpowers now. Like we're totally outclassed and — _hey!_ Don't roll your eyes at me, KP, I'm not making this up! I'm just the distraction, you're the one taking the punches and you know more than I do how dangerous that is. So please. Go. Give up crime. See a doctor. Forget I'm here."

Kim's hands slide up and she hunches over, staring daggers at him. "I will never let you go. Best friends for life, remember?"

Ron frowns. Steps back and hits something. She thinks he says something, but it's completely overpowered by the alarm now going off. It's impossible to miss, and all over the prison lights blast onto their fullest power, people stirring from each and every cell.

Ron's eyes meet Kim's one last time, the flashing red lights coating his placid skin. He steps back again, details getting fuzzy in the dark, fuzzier and fuzzier until eventually he's back in his bed and out of sight.

She fumbles through her belt. Looks for anything — _anything_ — that can tear this wall down but there's nothing. She is nothing. She let down the only person that she let in. She pounds the wall again and screams for Ron to come back. But he doesn't. Just as the tears slice through her cheeks, a loud voice calls out.

"Aha! Of course. The criminal _always_ returns to the scene of the crime."

Son of a fucking bitch — of all the goddamn rotten things…

Sure enough, Team Go is waiting for her. Kim slumps and jumps off of the wall, throwing her fists up, absolutely clueless as to how she can handle this fight completely on her lonesome. Which is just great; she's going to get the tar beaten out of her right before Ron's eyes and he'll get to say _I told you so_ when they're both eating prison gruel.

No. Not her.

Kim checks her opponents. Hego's up front, hands on his hips, chest puffed out. Mego and the Wegos flank him and…that's it. No sign of Shego.

Kim leans back and breathes calmly. "Where's your sexy sister?"

Hego gasps; too scandalized for words. Mego on the other hand purrs, miming penciling something into an invisible notebook. "You'll have to wait up. Sis has got a long line of suitors, toots."

"Ew!" Kim sticks out her tongue. "Don't say _toots_; it's tacky. No wonder she hates you guys."

"What's wrong with _toots_?" Mego shouts, unintentionally doing his best Larry David.

"Less quipping, more JUSTICE!" Hego decrees, leaping ahead of his brothers and swinging his wrecking ball arms over his head and back towards the floor.

Kim somersaults back, just avoiding the crunch, flipping into a crouch. She reels back and leaps ahead, flopping onto Hego's back. The buffoon whirls about like a dog chasing its tail, and she clings to his shoulder blades, playing an overly stressful game of Twister as he attempts to throw her off. In his final writhing fit, her back slaps up against his and he jolts at the touch, giving her a precious second to tumble off him and hit the floor. Her boot lashes out and strikes his ankle, sending him crashing down chin first.

The _crunch!_ makes Kim grin. She knows it's sadistic but it's just so _fun_. Plus, it's kinda nice to punch her way through how ferociously mad she is at Ron.

But before Kim can amscray, she's promptly swarmed by the Wegos and there's like ten million of them. Which is great. She just loooooooves beating up opponents only to find out it was a clone the whole time and it didn't matter. It's really her favorite.

Kim cracks her knuckles and braces herself for impact. The Wegos dive bomb at her and she does her best to fend them off with her own flurry of punches and kicks. She strikes them all — hard — but they just keep on coming, no matter how she smacks them down. It's kind of exhausting — mentally, that is — Kim's got a lot of stamina after all…

"_Kim. The Wegos are just kids, like, younger than me. Try to distract them with something_," Wade says through the onslaught.

"With what? Candy?" Kim growls, socking one Wego clone right in the schnoz.

"_Candy? That's too on-the-nose. Come on Kim, you're better than that."_

"I know I am!" Kim snaps, a Wego snagging her by the neck from behind. Her body bends backwards, feet struggling to stay planted. Her arms wave frantically, but they just keep on piling up and breathing starts to hurt her chest and —

"OHMIGOSH! IS THAT SHEGO?!"

All the Wego clones freeze in place, following Kim's extended arm and swinging their eyes onto the upper level of the prison, blinking dumbly as if Shego really is about to make an appearance. It gives Kim an ample window to grab one Wego by the foot and whirligig him around her, knocking the rest of the terrible tykes away. She piledrives the last clone into the floor and kicks him in the throat. She leaps into a run and moves fast towards — anywhere else really — and she runs into the air?

That's weird.

Oh, it's not weird. Someone's lifting her up. She's just fighting a grow-up-shrink-down-Mr-Fantastic type. Ugh. _So_ over it by now.

Mego chortles as he grows to the size of the whole prison with Kim balanced in the palm of his hand. Right as his head grows past the second floor railing, Kim rolls up Mego's wrist and sends both of her boots right into his peepers. He yowls and tosses Kim high into the air. She recovers fast and catches herself on the rail, body cracking against her arm, bicep tearing from the pull of gravity.

This is exactly what did Ron in.

But she's not Ron.

She curls her whole body high enough to grab the railing with her other arm. She scrambles over the top and flops onto the floor.

Below, the Go Brothers are still getting their shit together, preparing for Round 2 of their battle. Kim has half the mind to jump on down and brawl them into submission, because she's still got a train's worth of steam to let off, but she knows she doesn't stand a chance in a melee with all four of them. So she runs. Fast. "Wade, I need an out — like _now_."

"_Kim, I told you this was a bad idea. Um. Let me look."_

Kim checks her shoulder and sees blue, purple, and red dots quickly gaining on her. For a second she thinks that if she gives herself up, it might make for a shorter sentence…but no! She can't think like that. Head in the game, she's got this.

She wipes the sweat from her brow and looks ahead. A thin brown line separates what should appear to her as a mass of gray. She gets closer and closer and sees that it's a rope. A glance up shows her that it's hanging from a hole in the ceiling.

Wade's got diddly donk for her so this is her best bet; Kim jumps on and begins the climb, but before her hands even grasp the next rung of hairy nylon, the rope swings up, carrying her with it. _Click clack BANG!_ she rolls into the air duct, the metal plate yanked back into place by the rope as if nothing happened.

Green light glows and illuminates the harsh lines of the heart shaped face glaring at her. Kim opens her mouth to say something but the woman paws her hand up against Kim's mouth, thumb wedged under the lip.

"Hi," Kim says despite the muffling.

Shego rolls her eyes and swipes at the air. "Come on," she whispers, crawling down the duct.

"Wait," Kim presses all four limbs into the metal, checking that it's actually secure. "Why are you helping me? This screams 'set-up.'."

Shego presses her fingers together into a 'time out' signal. She reaches into her backpack (Backpack? That's unusual. For her at least.) and pulls out a small box with a dial. Kim's eyes narrow while Shego gently spins the knob; she's seen this thing before. But where?

"It's a Muter," Shego explains. "Keeps sound down so people don't overhear. You don't want to crank it too high because the dead silence is kinda suspicious. But yeah, talk to me. Didn't think you'd be so chatty."

Kim grins with a little bit of teeth, rushing forward and hooking her head under Shego's arm, nuzzling against the green woman's face. "I just wanted to — "

"Knock it off!" Shego growls, pushing Kim off her. "Weirdo."

"I think you mean — _lesbo_," Kim giggles. "You're cute; why are you helping me? Because if you want to bang, I could pencil you in but I'm not really in the mood seeing how my best friend just screwed me over."

Shego raises an eyebrow. "Blondie let you down? Hasn't he already been doing that for a decade?"

"Ha ha," Kim forces. "Very funny. Now can you please answer my question?"

Shego frowns and thinks about it. "Um — you just read to me as a — a villain with her heart in the right place. That's all. My brothers are black and white about the whole thing, but I don't think you deserve to be locked up here."

Kim hangs back while Shego shuffles off. Something about that doesn't read to her as particularly honest, and it's absolutely in her nature to not let that go. So she picks up the pace and follows the green woman closely. "If you really knew me, Sheila, I don't think you'd classify me as _good_."

"Don't call me that," Shego grunts. "Especially when I'm working."

Kim grins from ear to ear. "Is that a signal that I can maybe get away with it when you're _not_ working? Like tomorrow at seven?"

"Oh please," Shego rolls her eyes. "So not interested. Plus, aren't you with Blondie?"

"No," Kim says quickly. "We — um — tried once, and — well, I wasn't joking when I said _lesbo_. Hey, let me lead. I know these air ducts pretty well."

Shego stops and shifts to the side as Kim brushes past her, bodies momentarily mushed together in the tight corridor, and of course Kim can't help herself but make a joke about it. "The tension between us is so thick I can _feel _it."

"Oh my God, stop," Shego growls, nudging Kim off of her aggressively, though Kim's pretty sure she spots a tiny smile as she flops ahead. "So what's the deal? Ran away because your parents found out you were gay?"

The way Shego says that is weird. Like she's not _actually_ asking that. She has to already know that isn't the answer. But she wants to make it sound like she doesn't really know what Kim's deal is. Which means she's playing dumb, even though she did her homework.

"No," Kim says curtly. "I have two Dads remember?"

"And a mom…" Shego kinda sorta mutters.

"What?" Kim twists back, spreading her legs to take up the whole space. "You're being weird — stop being weird. What's going on?"

Shego's cheeks go lime when she's embarrassed — which is so fucking cute by the way. "Okay, I've done my research on you because you just — interest me is all. You have three parents and they're all fucking each other constantly probably. You always seemed so happy in high school and — I just don't get it. People don't break bad on a whim, you know?"

Kim lets that sink in, stares at the woman very intently. Watching her shift. The way the eyes finally connect with hers when she's done talking. The sudden lightness in her hands. The brows that don't furrow. The slower pace of speaking. The flatter tone. All things that Kim has to constantly keep her eyes on because sometimes observations are all that she's got.

"Are you asking me because you want to know what happened?" Kim cocks her head to the side. "Or are you using my story to justify why you want to stop being a superhero?"

"I don't — " Shego stutters, suddenly cross. " _— hey_! We're talking, don't crawl away from me."

"You might want to turn that dial up if you want to argue," Kim says, letting her voice echo back to the woman. "Why don't we just get out of here and I'll skip town? It's easier."

Kim winces because she would like it Shego objects to that…but Shego doesn't. Kim considers turning back and confessing that she wants nothing more than to talk. But she's not really good at talking, yet for some reason it feels important to do so. "Do you remember when I suddenly took down my hero website in sophomore year?"

"Yeah," Shego says dimly. "Everyone was talking about it. Why did you quit?"

Kim groans, slightly thankful that Shego didn't call her out on so immediately going back on her word. "That's the thing. I never quit. You've heard of Global Justice, right?"

"Of course."

Kim picks up the pace. She doesn't want to look back at Shego for the audience reaction. She just needs tell her story.

"Dad — um, Drew — was trying to surprise me by applying for a grant from Global Justice. It'd give me some funding for once, and it worked out. Worked out way more than anyone thought."

Shego's pattering against the metal slows, the taps themselves getting softer. "They recruited you, didn't they?"

Kim bites her lip. Maybe she shouldn't have brought this up. It's better for Shego to not know. Now she's compromised.

"It wasn't really an option," Kim finally says.

"Oh shit!" Shego blurts out, quickly pulling out the Muter to turn the sound down even more. "That's why you dropped out of all those clubs in junior year — a-and — fuck. Is that why you almost flunked out? Why you stopped talking to m—sorry. This isn't about me."

Kim doesn't know what to say, but she does stop moving. Bows her head, tightens her grip on nothing in particular.

Kim gives herself time and then says, "I thought that when I turned twenty one they'd let me go. Let _us_ go. But…they didn't. So one day, Ron and I just didn't come back. We hired this hacker kid that freelanced for Global Justice a lot and — yeah." She feels like she's supposed to say something else but the best she can come up with is repeating, "Yeah."

"Pumpkin, that sucks, I'm so sorry," Shego crawls forward and gently presses her hand to Kim's chest, guiding her back against the vent until she's sitting, legs scrunched up, almost bumping her chin. Kim doesn't know why she lets Shego move her around like she's some kind of doll. There's no time for a mushy gushy heart to heart, they gotta go.

But Shego leans against the other side of the vent and her longer legs scrunch up higher. "I had no idea, so like, you're on the run from them now?"

"Yeah," Kim shrugs, arms limp. "And _this_ is all I know, so it's what I do. I steal junk for people who want to take over the world." A sudden spark of personality. "I know it's wrong!_..._on paper at least. But these people are out of their minds, like — I know that when I lift some personality disruptor thing for Professor Dementor, he's just going to screw it up anyways. And it gives us — me, now, I guess — money to live off of."

"There's other ways to make money, Princess," Shego gets a little closer. The glow from her hands feels so warm when they are this close. Kim wonders if Shego's conscious of that or not. Either way, it's like laying under the best kind of blanket.

"Not when you have my kind of history," Kim shrugs. "I hate doing this, you know? I don't know what my parents were thinking letting me do all this…."

Shego withdraws for a moment, mouth closing as if in shock. But it's put-on.

Kim narrows her eyes. Something is_ definitely_ going on here. Shego's being weird, so Kim decides to just seize the moment and go for it.

"No. I did it to myself, I think. I _wanted_ this," Kim growls and then leans in. "_Just like I want you._"

Kim's kiss is gentle, slow, it lets her hot breath come through. She takes one of Shego's hands and presses it against the wall, getting closer and closer, quickly picking up in intensity because this feeling is definitely reciprocative. Teeth bump against each other and tongues cross, but it's Shego's honeycrisp scent of all things that becomes the leave behind Kim never forgets.

It's not until a more primal desire courses though her mind that Kim remembers what the whole objective of this was. She pulls from the liplock, swiping the Muter from Shego's bag. Shego tries to snatch it back but Kim rolls onto her stomach, turning the thing over and over and over again. Because she knows this device…she just needs a refresher.

…oh, that fucking — god dammit…

Kim gets mad and accidentally pounds the metal around Shego. It shakes and Shego dives forward, pushing Kim onto her back and turning the dial way up. "Princess, not now. Bad timing — "

"You're working for my Dad?!" Kim screams, chest heaving.

Shego bites her lip and everything goes cold again. No more glow. Like the blanket got yanked off her so someone could dump ice cold water on her face.

"My Dad invented this stupid thing — " Kim shoves it in Shego's face, backing Shego away. " — he puts his name on everything because he's so needy — ugh, see? _Property of Drew Lipsky. Call if you _— fuck!"

"Look, just because I have your Dad's tech doesn't mean — "

"Yes. It does. Dad's a wash-up, after he quit Global Justice he hasn't been able to patent a damned — oh my God, you're working for him," she slumps back against the wall, hand to her head. "How could I have been so stupid?"

Kim glares at Shego, heart stopped. What the Hell is she supposed to do? Team Go's searching for her down below, and her fucking dad's lackey is in tight quarters with her. Fuckfuckfuck.

Her fist lashes out and slugs Shego right in the face. Barbaric, but it's the best she's got on short notice.

Shego starts shouting at her about — something — she's not sure. She can't think straight she's so pissed off. Her boot slams the metal, one kick already denting it. Fuck yeah. She kicks and kicks and kicks and _just_ slips away as Shego dives at her.

Kim tumbles and hits the floor, pain shouting from the soles of her feet up to her knees. But at least she can fucking breathe down here.

Wade starts yapping the second she levels out. "_Kim, I just found an escape route _—_ "_

"Were you even paying attention — " Kim snaps. "_Ugh._ Nevermind. What's the sitch?!"


	3. I Don't Know How to Say This

The evil lair shakes as if a giant baby is rattling it without any attention from a watchful parent. But Kim Possible strides on, miraculously balancing on her feet while all the other goons see-saw back and forth like total fools. She has no idea where Dementor gets these people from… The thirteen minions, glad in an ugly gray and red, turn to her, their enforcer, and wait for orders.

Kim slides over to a console by the exit and flicks some switches. The alarm ceases and the red lights stop flashing. Without a word she looks to her men and flashes several quick hand signals. The goons nod back and reposition themselves. Six grouped besides the entrance, two mounted on the wall above with suction cups, one guarding the exit, and four making a Red Rover Red Rover line across the floor.

So obedient. Like a well oiled machine. Kim smirks to herself and pops a password into the console, but freezes when she finds her eyes unable to trail away from the one idiot mook she really wishes she could just get rid of — Myron. The lucky SOB is Professor Dementor's _cousin_ so the lout didn't even need to worry about applying through the website! Kim grabs Myron's stun gun and elbows him in the chest, adjusting her aim while muttering a few instructions to the bonehead, then dashes back and finishes smashing the rest of the password in before the console resets.

"Hey wait! What is the password?" Myron bellows, already screwing up the position Kim contorted him into.

Kim shrugs as the doors close behind her. Why would she tell the mooks the password? For all she knows, Shego's got another one of her dad's science experiments on her — like the _Brain Tap Machine_ — better for the mooks not to know.

Ahead of Kim is a very long hallway, lined with tiles split just a hair's width apart. She punches a loose tile in the wall and a grid of lasers zip zap through the tiles, making sort of an inverse jungle gym where if you hit the bars, you die. She grins and vaults forward, flipping between the beams.

It makes her happy. Her first mission ever involved a security grid like this. That was back when all she wanted to do was the right thing, something she later learned was a privilege because the only thing she can want for now is survival.

Tsch. _Survival_. She's doing that okay.

It's been months since her initial confrontation with Shego, but it's_ also_ been months of Kim Possible unable to stop moving — even for a night. Explicitly _because _ofShego. Always dogging at her heels, always foiling her employers' plans, so ferociously infuriating. Kim can't even sleep now because her reputation is going down the crapper with every nabbed criminal.

Monkey Fist, DNAmy, Duff Killigan, Falsetto Jones, her evil uncle Ed, that celebrity Camille Leon, the weird fish guy…Gil? Or was it Gill?

Doesn't matter. They're done. All of them. Tossed aside. Because of Shego…

No. Because of her father. Because he can't just stop ruining her life.

Ron was right. Probably. It's inevitable, Kim can only run for so long before she trips up. No one can do this forever. She's nothing more than red crosshairs for her employers now because for whatever reason, Shego won't let up, and Shego — always — wins. But Kim is **not** surrendering. She's not like Ron.

Professor Dementor is just Kim's latest in line of sacrificial cash cows. Dude is bonkers. Seriously, pan-dimensional-what?! Like what are you talking about ? But he pays. He pays _really_ well so Kim doesn't complain.

Dementor is also a push over. Kim has been the point man for the operation from the start. He's big picture, she's nuts n' bolt with occasionally some vision. It is her first job where she actually feels like the bad guy though, and that's not what she wanted.

"KIM POSSIBLE!"

Speak of the Devil.

"VHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, FRAULEIN?!"

The little man stomps and thrusts his gnarled fists to his sides. Waiting for Kim to respond (which she doesn't), he peeks around her shoulders and sees a grid of lasers so dense that all you can make out are the varying depths of red.

"Is zis a test run?!" Dementor stomps again. "I am vorking on the PANS DIMENSIONAL — "

" — Vortex Inducer, amp it down, I know," Kim rolls her eyes. "We've got company, that's the sitch. Wade picked up Doctor Lipsky's frequency and — "

"Who is Doctor Lipsky?" Dementor raises an eyebrow.

Ugh. "...Doctor Drakken…?"

Dementor gasps like someone just stepped on his footsie. "HE USES A FAKE NAME?!"

Kim _could_ make a joke where she points out Dementor's real name is Demenz but that would be — heheh — a _low blow_. Because he's short! Ha! Maybe if Ron were there she'd go for the joke, but he's not. He'll never be there, and now she's too sad to make a joke.

Instead of pointlessly badgering the already insecure cretin, Kim just grabs the man by the hand and starts running. He toddles along, struggling to come up with more things to shout about — but she's more focused on how he slows her down with his short, knobby legs. So Kim whips around, grabs him by the waist and hoists him onto her back.

At first he's enraged beyond belief. How dare he — THE GREAT PROFESSOR DEMENTOR — be manhandled like a child?! But then he sort of gives himself over to it because seriously, how often do you get a piggy back ride?

The glee cuts itself short when the next hatch opens and reveals a drop so deep that all you can make out is the color white. He slaps Kim's temple gently, begging her to not jump like some kind of Tarzan fool but she does anyways.

Dementor screams so loud that it reminds Kim she was supposed to install a roller coaster style camera in here. Ah well.

She grapples onto a pipe and shoots into the air, another laser grid forming around her. Something drops in her stomach and she decides to play the risk and bucks Dementor off her. Not to worry though — she'll catch him. She always does.

She swings and swings and twists and it's child's play really. She doesn't like it. Because if _she_ can make it through, Shego definitely can. Though she's not sure how else she would set this up. It's not like she's _trying_ to design a death trap to do herself in… that'd be bizarre.

Ha.

Ha.

Kim leaps off the grapple line and catches Dementor in the air, scrunching into a ball and flying through the final obstacle, landing square on her feet. They slip through the third hatch and re-emerge in a dark room, lit by merely one overhead lamp.

Big Daddy Brotherson lowers his newspaper and sighs in relief. "I am ready to play silly games with my opponent."

Kim rolls her eyes and pats her body down, inadvertently dropping Dementor to the floor. She finds it within a few seconds and passes a piece of paper over to the large man. "No way Shego or my dad can figure these riddles out. Honestly I don't even know the answers."

Big Daddy's eyes widen and he licks his lips. "This will be the silliest game of them all."

Kim fist bumps with the crime lord and grabs Dementor's hand again, far too tired for a return to piggy backing. Off of the mad scientist's bewildered look she snarks, "What? Every bad guy lair's gotta have a riddle room!"

The next room is a bridge over a massive water tank. Kim claps her hands and the water erupts in torrents when two sharks snap away at the bridge. Slowly, the water begins to rise and just as they pass through the fifth door, the water slips into Dementor's boots and worse — his socks. Ew.

They blaze down a hall, metal doors clanging down like mallets, just a half pace behind them, and scarily consistent. Two thirds through the sprint, the pattern breaks and the sound goes still when the next door doesn't blast down. The duo passes through the gap, but before dashing ahead, Kim digs her heels into the floor and whips Dementor into the air, the next door landing a half second early. _Anyone_ would fall for that trick, it's her best shot at downing any irksome superhero with a grudge.

Kim throws herself back into a sprint as the sequence realligns. They make it out and in the seventh room —

"SPINNING TOPS OF DOOM?!" Dementor cries out.

Kim blushes. "Ron was always telling me about his ideal bad guy lair and how he — "

Dementor pats his helmet. "Y'know knowv vhat? I actually don't care."

Kim freezes and considers letting a spinning top be Dementor's doom, but thinks better of it and yanks him alone, bringing them to the eighth and final room. She sets him down breathes a sigh of relief. What an adventure. Completely her designs and execution. But the best part?

All on Dementor's tab.

Tapping his foot impatiently, Dementor's face tightens into something very unpleasant. "How expensive vas all this?"

Kim shrugs. "Hey Perkins?"

"Perkins? Honey, no. I'm Dement—"

"Hank Perkins at your service, sir!"

Dementor yelps as the young brunette boy encases Dementor's tiny hand with two of his bony ones, jerking his arm up and down like it's a see-saw. Before he can say anything, Hank's peppy voice fills up the room.

"I'm your Villainy Consultant as well as your _Certified_ Public Accountant. I crunch your numbers!"

While Hank rattles off a bunch of nonsense jargon, Kim grabs her earpiece. "Wade?"

"_Got it Kim."_

A hatch opens in the floor, steam cloaking a booth that rises up. Kim crosses her arms over her chest, pivots onto her heel, and slips into the booth like falling into a coffin. Little metal arms pinch at her skin and she feels something warm pressing into her from all over. Meanwhile, a claw grabs her chin and adjusts her head. It hurts but it's the only way to keep a steady view on all the displays.

It's hard to focus on any one thing, there's just so many monitors and cameras. But she can plainly see Shego taking out her guards. They fly like ragdolls and it is just _so_ embarrassing. Like these are _her_ men. She trained them for this and now they might as well be worm food. She runs her hand along a panel and flicks several switches. "Team Gamma, you're back-up for Level 3. Take the elevator and do not let Shego through the grid. You have one minute."

She hates how dark her voice gets when she issues orders. It's with every passing day that she descends deeper and deeper down, and it's hard to breathe when you're way down in the dark.

"_Kim._" Wade's voice booms all around. "_Camera 8._"

She looks. Narrows her eyes. Her father. Of course. "Team Epsilon. A man is driving a hovercraft over the fortress. Go. Now." She hesitates. "Shoot to stun. Do not kill, I repeat, do not kill." She hesitates again. "Same for you, Gamma."

Everything freezes around her, power going down. Before she can squawk out some indignancy, Wade explains it, "_I'm not letting you work until you get your heart rate down."_

She'd like to argue that but her chest does hurt and she is sweating an awful lot for someone who is supposed to be in control. There is truly nothing to worry about, in fact, she's never had this much of a hand in any plans. Meaning it's her intellect that will triumph for once.

The stress is probably a leftover from her history of botched capers, of the injuries and trauma.

Kim tries to think of something calm so Wade can give her the green light. It doesn't come to her easy because everything that used to make her calm is now something she has to hate — out of necessity. But eventually she finds the journey. Some vague vision of living alone in a forest. She could just _do_ that. It's not like the blood money gets her any closer.

The lights kick back on and so does the whir of the machines. "Can I trust you to supervise the rest?" she asks.

"_Uh...sure, what about you, though? I mean you're in the safest room._"

"But I don't need to be, only Dementor does. Okay. Punching out."

Before Wade can say anything the booth collapses around her and crinkles back into the floor.

Gone is the crimson mission outfit. She's now outfitted in Wade's latest toy: an experimental battlesuit. Form-fitting, strength-enhancing, energy shield conductors, built-in grapple line, cloaking device, healing factor, and self-repairing mechanisms. Plus it's black for stealth with red stripes. Because red is her _thing_.

Dementor's jaw drops at the sight of it and she merely grins, tossing her hair back and laughing. She's sure that Dementor's about to launch himself into some kind of fit about how she blew the budget on herself but whatevs, _so not the drama_. Long term investments and synergy yadda yadda yadda.

Kim punches a code into the consol and the thick ass metal door slides open for her. She backtracks through the room calmly. This is the one with the Spinning Tops of Doom. She struts to the center and goes into the camo mode. If Shego does manage to get this far, there's no way she'll get past this.

It makes Kim smile. Because maybe the nightmare will be over.

…

… _that_ gives her pause. Isn't the point to stop Shego and her Dad once and for all? But then Dementor might actually take over the world, and she'll be stuck as his enforcer. That doesn't feel very good. It's not really what she wants from this. Like she told Dementor she wanted a boss that she could trust to _not_ get himself arrested for once, but that was just her in. She didn't mean it. Even if Kim does win this battle, she doesn't really know what's next.

Like is she freelance or contract here?

No, that's not even it.

Kim just wants this to end, but all that's happening is escalation. For her. Dementor's plan to use the Pans Dimensional Vortex Inducer to do — whatever — is far from the most ambitious scheme she's worked on, but _this_ set-up? It's like watching Michelangelo craft his Chapel.

But why?

Kim wishes Ron were here. He'd know what to say. Tsch. She doesn't even need him to say that on the nose crap; she already knows.

"_Y'know KP, this is cool and all, especially the Spinning Tops of Doom. Nice touch! But um — like — who are you actually protecting right now?"_

She shakes it off. Spaces out listening to the rhythm of crashing walls from the next room down. It's consistent and loud. The rumble shifts the ground at her feet, so she stays balanced and doesn't sway.

Minutes pass and there are no updates from Wade. She doesn't want to break her concentration, but Wade can never shut up when things get stressful so she checks.

Connection's dead.

Probably her Dad. Should've seen it coming. Always one step behind, no matter how smart she gets her father always topples her. She should probably check on Dementor; she's got a strong feeling that her Dad somehow made it into that room and they're probably squabbling over something.

Then her Dad will come at her from behind and try to reason with her. Somehow he'll just _know_ that she's using a cloaking device. She hates that about him. Too genre-savvy for his own good.

Kim's concentration breaks. She falls off one foot and nearly faceplants. She narrows her eyes and tries focusing again. Listens to the full sequence of hammering walls. _Is the pattern off? _Listens again. _It is off._

Only one thing could set it off and within ten seconds her greatest fears are confirmed. Barreling down the corridor, drawing closer and closer to the incoming walls, she braces herself to get crunched but manages to slip by out of sheer luck. She drops a knee and stoops over the fallen Shego, hands shaking.

Her leg. Shego's leg is broken. It was the trick wall, the one abnormality in the sequence. She fell for it and now —

Shego swats her away, growling something mean, something that Kim can't even hear. Her heart rate is going up again, and if Wade had access to her suit right now, he'd shut it down. So she's somewhat thankful.

She claps her hands in the exact sequence of the walls and they freeze. It's dead silent now. Kim props Shego up against the wall, panicking. How did she let this happen? Did she really want this woman to get hurt like that?

There's only one solution that comes to mind. So Kim slips the suit off.

"Oh baby doll," Shego grins past gritted teeth. "Didn't know I'd get a peep show because I'm collateral."

Even when writhing in agony, Shego's funny. Kim's laugh sounds more like a gasp for air, and it's then she realizes she's crying.

Kim very carefully, slips Shego's jumpsuit off, replacing it with her own. She doesn't look anywhere else but Shego's eyes; Kim can't bear to even cast a glance at the mangled leg. Running her hand across it is enough.

But the rest of Shego is smooth. Kim's hand constantly adjusts to the sway of the woman's curves and muscle. It makes her feel warm inside. Her lips part, a little hungry for more, and she blushes. Shego just makes her feel warm because she's super human, that's all.

No, that doesn't make sense. Um. Shego just makes her feel warm because — um — Kim's not wearing anything but underwear and the corridor is cold? She knows she's got goosebumps at least. It's really embarrassing.

But Shego doesn't notice, at least from what Kim can tell. She doesn't break eye contact. Kim almost wants to ask why that is, but the lurch in her stomach is already giving her a hunch.

It's tempting to squeeze Shego's taut flesh and feel it fight back, but then her hands wouldn't be riding up the woman's curves. She's grown so much since high school.

Kim has too obviously. But not really in ways that she herself has noticed.

Shego's black lips part, held open cutely. Before she can say anything, Kim bows her head and speaks curtly. "The suit has a healing factor. It should help your leg. Hopefully enough that a doctor can really help you. Is Mom here?"

Shego nods very gently. "It's okay, Princess. I know what to do," she groans.

Kim wipes something from her cheeks and hastily slides on the jumpsuit. It bunches up at her ankles and chest, sleeves bumping against the creases in her fingers when she clenches. It's definitely not something she can fight in, but it doesn't seem like there will be much fighting now. She turns back and drops a knee. Shego's mouth is still open. It makes Kim so hungry.

Kim wants to tell Shego that she needs to stop following her everywhere, and that she needs to give up. Or maybe they could form a truce. Like Kim will only work for a certain tier of criminal in exchange for a blind eye. But she doesn't do that at all.

She instead rolls up her sleeve and slides her index finger under Shego's jaw. "I'm sorry I punched you."

Shego grins so wide and Kim doesn't know how she does it. "Which time?"

Kim bites her lip. This all feels so messed up. "You can keep the suit," she whispers and throws her long hair over her right shoulder, and moves in.

This kiss is far more tender than their last. Kim is almost disappointed. But it makes sense, it's like they already worked through their mutual attraction. Like, yes. We both want to fuck. But we're not in a situation that allows that. Unless we change things up.

Kim leaves her fingers on Shego's jaw when she pulls back; she doesn't want to let go.

Shego looks so grave. It should be harder to pull away from her and go. Like Kim has always done.

"Shego…"

Shego doesn't say anything.

Kim finally brings her hand back. She's not sure what to do with it so it sinks into the flabs of fabric hanging off her calve. "Does — does it feel better?"

Shego nods very slightly, body still slumped against the wall.

Kim makes to say something, but gets distracted when the door at the end of the hall opens. She immediately springs to her feet, but Shego grabs her by the wrist — gently.

"Kimmie," Shego coughs. "We're just trying to help. Please."

Kim still wants to run, but it's hard. Not with those eyes burrowing into her, with that honeycrisp scent still hanging in her lips. So she tries to square her shoulders and look her father in the eyes. It's hard.

After so many years, it's still really hard.

Doctor Drew Lipsky seems to find the same difficulty in the meeting his daughter's eyes. Dressed in a blue lab-coat, he's more haggard than she remembers. Amazing though that he breached her security. She's sure it wasn't easy on him.

"Kimberly Ann…" his voice strains. "You're not in trouble. We just want you to come home."

Kim doesn't believe him. Last time he told her something, it was a lie. Maybe he didn't know that it was a lie, that Global Justice was going to turn her into some kind of war machine with zero access to therapy or education, but he told her knowing that she'd trust whatever he'd say.

Because he _loves_ her.

Everyone _loves_ her.

Like Ron. But he betrayed her. Gave her up to the authorities, presumptuously deciding what is best for her. Maybe Dad and Shego are doing the same thing.

Kim doesn't say anything. She just runs, and she doesn't look back.

They don't catch her, they'll never catch her. She won't let them.


	4. But I Love You,

They like to eat out at the bougiest places that they can, and they like to eat on rooftops and gaze at the city skylines. They do not repeat cities, and they do not repeat dishes, and they never show their faces. They like to pretend that Kim isn't an internationally wanted criminal, and that Shego is the one charged with stopping her.

Kim Possible is big in the world of supervillains now and as such, is incredulously wealthy. Shego on the other hand is not, but she gladly takes Kim up on it. It started off as some kind of foreplay. Secret messages and riddles sent via bizarre clues at Kim's cartoonish capers, never formal invites. Now there are no clues for this is simply routine.

By day, Kim enacts her villainy while Shego hunts her down. By night, they are lovers.

Shego doesn't tell Drew, James, or Ann, though based on the way Ann just seems to know everything, that at least Ann could take a few guesses at what's really going on.

Kim spears a piece of shrimp with her fork, running it all the way through the cocktail sauce dish. She raises it to her lips and nibbles on the tail, eyes glassy and void. They had just been reminiscing about their time in high school together, but there's only so much mileage to go off there. Kim never graduated after all; she was drafted a few months after she aced her SATs.

Shego looks out at the skyline, barely aware of what city they're in tonight. Paris? Florence? New York? Cairos? Tokyo? All so different, but the location never really mattered. It's just backdrops to her, though they sometimes do a damn good job at keeping Shego's eyes away from the thing that really matters. But tonight, Shego is focused. She needs this to end.

"Word on the street is you're planning something big," Shego says, training one eye on Kim past her bangs.

"Mm," Kim considers that. "I don't want to talk about it."

Shego frowns. They've done this before too, and normally she yields. But tonight, she can't, even if it means they part ways after this dinner. "Kimmie…"

Kim raises her voice, "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"I know, Princess, but — " Shego pauses as she tries to find the adequate words for her concern. " — you can't do this forever."

Kim stares at Shego hard, and for a moment that feels like it might be it. But then Kim blows an angsty breath and leans in, elbows pressed against the glass table. "I got too good too fast, Shego. Without Ron, it's like — nothing is holding me back. Sky's the limit."

Shego nods; this is what she was afraid of.

"Dementor was pissed after how I totally took over his operation, which is what got Jack Hench's interest. And when I did the same thing to his corporate crap..." Kim bites her lip. "What am I supposed to do, Shego? Go back to grunt work, I can't. No one will take me. It has to be like this."

Shego tries to reach out and take Kim's hand, but Kim retracts it fast, probably knowing how Shego's touch can change all of this.

"The other super villains won't cooperate with me, won't even fathom — anything to do with me, so what choice do I have but to rise above?"

_There's a lot of choices,_ Shego wants to say. But that would be dishonest. She gets how people get trapped doing things they don't want to do. She gets the escalation of power, and what happens to outliers like her. But goddamit, Kim doesn't have to be bad. She obviously cares about people, and wants good things for the world.

The two women wouldn't be fucking each other in hotels every week if that weren't the case.

"I stepped down," Shego tries to shrug it off, but it comes off as so forced. "I was a superhero and now I'm a glorified — uh — detective's assistant? I don't know."

That doesn't seem to read. Kim bows her head, sinking deeper into her slouch. "No, you stepped up. I think working to take someone like me out of the game is more valuable than anything Team Go was working on, no offense."

Shego can't really disagree with that, so the conversation ends there. Kim calls Shego a cab, making up some excuse about how she totally has to talk to this arms' dealer tonight, and that next week they can…

...but Kim doesn't set anything up for next week. Or the next. Or the — you get the picture. It's done.

* * *

Shego is in a musty tavern on one of the nights she should be in bed with Kim. Technically, she is looking for someone to hook up with because she's feeling antsy, but really she just wants to talk to _a_ girl so she can make _a _Snapchat to shut Mego up. (She totally regrets Snapchatting Mego like every single spicy thing about her affair with Kimberly Ann Possible, because now he's way too invested in the two of them to not continue bothering her about it.)

The tavern lowkey sucks. No one likes Shego's flirting. Apparently, she's only good at flirting with people who break her leg and then immediately heal it. Kinky shit like that.

Then Shego sees the news.

Kim Possible has been spotted working for Senor Senior Sr.

Shego's heart leaps into her throat; Kim is not one to lie, and she wouldn't want to be working with the Seniors unless — "_Dementor was pissed after how I totally took over his operation." _— yeah, something like that.

She _could_ just wait until tomorrow to address this — or rather, she _should_. The Kim Possible Job is _just _a job now, one that she kinda wants to continue ad infinitum so she doesn't have to worry about actually making a decision on what she wants next. But — if she's taking Senior's hideout, this _has_ to be it.

So she takes out her phone and calls Drew.

"Hey Doctor D, you have like — weirdo connections with shady people, don't you?" she asks.

"Nyrgh," he moans. It makes her smile. Guy is so used to people stroking his ego that he can hardly handle her lip, and every time she taunts him he deflates in the most pathetic of ways. "Y-yes. Why do you ask?"

Shego pushes her empty glass across the table, rattling the ice to get the bartender's attention. "I think a certain billionaire supervillain might be homeless right now, and I think it'd be a good idea for us to find him ASAP so we can pop quiz him about Kimmie."

* * *

Okay, so, like, this is _totally _illegal.

Kidnapping Senor Senior Sr. off the streets in the middle of a massive investigation probably constitutes as some form of vigilantism.

But if the cops and feds get to Senior first — Kimmie's toast. She's ridden this edge for long enough, if she is doing what Shego thinks she's doing, well, Global Justice will probably finally step in to take the kid out.

(After all, Kim is a rogue ex-agent. Global Justice just doesn't like acknowledging that by staying far, far away from Agent Possible.)

Shego ends up crammed into a studio apartment in a dilapidated complex with Kim's three parents. The bedroom is used for the interrogation, and boy does the interrogation — correct: interrogation_s_ — go poorly. Shego knows that out of the four of them, she is probably the most eloquent with her words (or the best _Englist_ as Drew puts it,) in addition to being the most genre-savvy for such a caper, but she doesn't want to be the one to make Senior crack. Because this is the endgame. After Senior squeals, and he will, they'll know all they need to do to storm his dumb, private island, and take Kimmie out for good.

Besides, Senor Senior Sr. is totally annoying. He's so tight lipped about everything. Something about the _Villain's Code of Ethics_. Shego doesn't really get it, that's like — some Hego bullshit.

Shego crosses her legs, ankles clicking into each other, and looks over to her company: Drew & James. Over in the bedroom is Ann. She's with Senior and from the sound of it, interrogating him hard.

"Hey — um," Shego grunts. James and Drew look away from the book they're sharing. "Thanks for — uh — inviting me to do all this with you."

"Oh! No problem at all," James grins, sliding the book into Drew's lab so he can bookmark it. "We're really happy that you've tagged along for all this, though I do wonder if you should move on."

"Move on?" Shego arcs an eyebrow. "Why would I _move on_?"

"Well our daughter doesn't really like you that way. Considering all the injuries." Drew clicks his tongue, not looking at her as if this is all matter-of-fact.

Shego wants to tell the two men about the battlesuit, about how Kim went so far out of her way to make things right after Shego got hurt, but Kim's parents don't know that. They think the battlesuit is something Shego scooped off Dementor, though Drew did seem to give her a knowing glance when she mentioned it.

She's really not sure what to say. It's not like she has to _prove_ anything. Because — well — they've already done the dirty deeds and all that. But just like her Snapchat videos — it was a once in a lifetime overdeal.

Shego just slumps over her bent knees and groans, muttering something unintelligible into her lap. She cranes her neck up and tries to think of something in-character. "I — I don't know. This beats arresting Aviarius every Thursday, y'know?"

Seems to be go over okay. Drew and James are really bad at reading people. But if Ann was there — she'd be finished. Ann knows how Shego used to be — aggressive as all Hell, but as of the past few months, the only people Shego's put in the hospital are Ron Stoppable and herself. But that's less of a _Shego's going soft _thing and more of a _Hego's a 'holier than thou' jerk_ thing. Nothing to do with Kimmie.

Shego has never even really talked about herself with these guys. When she's not talking about cool science things with the three Docs, she's asking about Kim. Just like how she did in high school when she was _pining_ for the redhead. She wonders if Kim's parents remember that.

The door swings open and out steps a discouraged looking Ann. She doesn't meet any of their eyes and hip checks Drew into the next seat, knocking James onto the floor. "Your turn!" she chirps.

James rubs his sore rear and marches into the bedroom all grumbly-wumbly, shutting the door behind him.

"How'd it go?" Drew asks, showcasing his amazing talent to never read the room right.

Ann flops over his lap, scooping up the thick book he was going through with James and opens it to a random page.

"Hey!" Drew frowns. "We're reading that."

Ann chuckles and stretches her arms high over Drew's head, the pages hovering just over his hair "Calm down Drew, once I hit the bookmark I'll sit up and we can read together."

"Nyyyrgh," Drew is nonplussed, slouching in the hair so the book can clear his ridiculous mullet. His droopy frown almost reaches the edges of his cheeks. "Where did we go wrong?!"

Shego wishes that Drew wasn't eyeing her with such desperate eyes. It makes her feel obligated. "You didn't know," she fidgets out.

"That doesn't excuse — " Drew begins, Ann's finger crossing over his lips. He tugs his head away. " — Ann,_ please_. We're — " He searches for the word for some time and announces it with disdain. " — _accountable_."

Ann slips the same finger into the book as a placeholder and leans up, pecking Drew on the cheek which seems to help. "Sheila's right; we didn't know. We should have though. But we're doing the best we can."

"But — "

"_Sh._"

Ann drapes an arm over his shoulder, splaying the book open in front of him with one hand. He smiles, beady eyes concentrating on the words when all of a sudden something catches him and he snaps. "_Shego_!"

Her spine immediately straightens; the way he says her name makes her sound like a henchman which she is _so_ not. "Yeah Doctor D?" she stutters.

"Temper, Drew," Ann squeezes Drew's hand.

"Right, sorry," he wipes his forehead. "But Shego — Shei_la_ — how did you reconcile with your brothers?"

"Huh?" Shego's heart pounds ten times faster. She _never_ talks about her brothers, but she supposes this is an important exception. "Why?" she asks as if she doesn't know.

Drew runs his fingers together. "Well it's a similar situation, right?"

Yeah, kind of. She looks away. "Sort of. Um. It's not exactly — _handled _per say..."

"Mm?" Drew's mouth puckers into his jaw, brows arching inwards like he's feeling something for her. "Sorry. I thought you — "

"You didn't talk to them?!" Ann turns to Shego with a disappointed gaze. "Sheila…"

"Yeah yeah," Shego waves them off, hand curling against her knee. "I know, I know. I'm a superhero, I should be a better model citizen and — "

Drew snaps his fingers. "That's what we should have told Kimberly Ann! She _doesn't_ have to be a superhero!" Off of Shego and Ann's confused expressions, he freezes. "Oh, sorry, one step ahead. I forgot to say you don't _need_ to be a superhero if you don't want to."

Shego thinks that over. Obviously it's true but — she has superpowers right? And she likes to fight people so… she doesn't really see how one thing _won't_ lead to another here.

God, why do they have to focus on _her_? She's helping them for crying out loud. Not even asking for money and… there's no time for this! Kim is like the #1 Supervillain right now, and if she is smart enough to use all the resources she's had access to… well… it's probably a bad idea to put the weight of whole thing on Shego but — well, it beats Global Justice shooting the poor thing to death?

Dammit. But if it leaks and they strike anyways — Shego will need to convince Betty Director that the situation is best handled by a small op, a small, _trusted_ op. Like Team Go. Dammit.

Before Shego can even think it through, she fires off a rapid text to her brother. That's the only way to promise Kim protection — if she can somehow convince Hego to not be a self-righteous asshole for once.

Shego gets up suddenly, catching Ann and Drew's eyes. "Where are you going?" Ann raises an eyebrow.

"Bad cop, I guess," Shego shrugs, arms entrenched in her pockets. She shoulder-checks the bedroom open and sidesteps in to see Senor Senior Sr. surprisingly smug. Arms crossed with a dumb, dopey grin. Meanwhile James is seething.

Shego rolls her eyes and gently grabs James by the arm, adding a sprinkle of plasma just enough to soothe like a warm compress, immediately settling him, and looks to Senior. "What's in it for you? Kimmie jacked your pad and you're _defending_ her?"

Shego waves past the door frame for Drew and Ann to come in. Looks back to the 1.

"Ah, you see my dear Shego," Senior grins. "Villain's Code of Ethics says that the only way to prematurely announce a villain's scheme is through a live broadcast. I don't want to violate the code of — "

"There is no code of ethics!" Shego sneers.

Senior blinks back and shakes his head. "And how do you know that?"

Shego feels her heart pounding, and there's only thing she can say to slow it…

"Because Kimmie doesn't use them at all. At any point." She shuts her eyes. "When she broke my leg, she risked her safety fixing it, giving me that stupid battlesuit…"

Drew snaps from behind her. "I knew it! I knew that our Kimmie — "

"Drew," James grunts, elbowing Drew in the gut.

"Aw," Drew frowns. "But how often do _I_ get a moment to figure something out?"

"That man is quite insecure," Senior comments, trying to break eye contact with Shego.

Which is good because Shego's face is split into lines of fury, and it's not the best look. "Kimmie's not a bad person, and we need to save her."

"From what?" Senior leans back. "From what I've heard, she's beat you at every turn, Shego."

"Senior!" Ann shouts, stepping forward. "You're a dad. You understand, right?"

Senior tilts his head up, sniffing in consideration. "My son is not nearly as nuanced as your daughter is…"

"...but you understand the principle of it?" James offers.

Senior's eyes trail down the line of heads, landing on Drew, who misses his cue to add something to the conversation. "No," Senior finally says. "I don't like Kim Possible but if she can use my home to commit the ultimate villainous act, then I shall exonerate her."

"Fuck you, you little shit," Shego yells, jabbing a finger at his nose. "How about this — tell us about every dumb, excessive, villainous piece of trash you have in your lair, and then we'll figure out what she's planning."

Senior frowns. Conflicted. Shego is sure that he just loves going on and on about his villain set. But in a small voice he whimpers, "No."

"Asshole," Shego shakes her head.

James scratches his neck. "Shego, I don't know if this is the best way to interrogate someone."

"Well — gr — I'm mad, okay?!" Shego snaps. Why do they have to be like this? Don't they get she's trying to save their dumbass daughter from destroying themselves?! "Because — because this whole thing sucks. Your daughter is so — so stupid to be doing any of this! She just doesn't give a damn about taking over the world, she just feels shoehorned into it!"

A silence settles. Drew is the first to interrupt because again — dude can't read the room to save his life. "How — how do you _know_ that?"

"Huh?" Shego says. Ah shit. Jig's up. "Um — well — it's how I felt about Team Go."

Drew raises an eyebrow. "So you're — projecting your feelings onto her?"

"Sheila, that's unhealthy," Ann slips in.

Shego drags her hand against her face. "I — I don't want to talk about it. But Kim is so _not_ a villain. She's just doing some lizard brain survivalist shit and — "

"Wait — " Senior interrupts. "Miss Possible does not wish to be a villain?"

Shego jabs another finger at him, and then freezes. Right. Now she knows how to play this. "No, and she's going to waste your resources in the name of something that _isn't _villainy."

Senior's face scrunches up; _so_ close to squealing.

Shego looks past her shoulder and sees a familiar face glaring at her from the room over. Rolls her eyes and picks up the notebook, slamming it into James' chest. "Write it all down, I need to take care of something."

Before the Possibles can object, Shego passes back into the waiting room and almost bumps her chest against Hego's. Yeah that's right. Dude showed up pretty quickly.

"Hey," Hego says first. "You can't hold a suspect hostage like — "

Shego cuts him off. "Outside."

* * *

It's far past curfew — or rather, _before_ curfew — but Middleton Town Park makes for a great spot to have a smackdown in my town. Shego looks far more casual in her civvies than her brother, barrel chest barely contained behind the polo shirt, his wire framed glasses not doing a whole lot of work concealing his identity, but somehow it works.

Hego shoves said stupid glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I will not tolerate vigilantism."

Shego kicks a leg over her resting one, heel bobbing up and down. "I know. But I'm not a vigilante. Mercenary more like it. Better?"

Hego pales.

Shego does too. "Sorry. Um. Listen, we — we need your help."

Hego opens his mouth to say something but decides for once to keep his yap shut. Though he still manages to slip out, "I'm sure," in a quiet voice.

Shego narrows her eyes but nevertheless continues. "We're saving Kimmie. She's taken Senior's home and — probably is about to take over the world or some shit. We don't want that. Obviously."

Hego nods slowly. "So you need my help because you can't handle her—"

"I can handle her!" Shego almost rises from the bench, green embers filling her eyes. She catches herself fast and leans back. "I'm sick of people saying I can't! I'm the only one who can handle her, actually. Because — dammit, I don't want to go there right now, and I don't want Global Justice taking her on. She'll die. If you help us, they won't come. Those bastards trust_ you_ and that's the only thing that can save Kimmie."

Hego frowns, taking a second to process all that. It's probably the most words Shego has said to him all year. "What's wrong with Kim Possible going to jail? She's a bad guy!"

"You damn well know why," she gets a little tense again. Ugh. Feelings. Why. "I don't want her getting hurt. She's a good person, Hego. I'm in love with her for fuck's sake."

"Ah," Hego says dryly.

Of course. What was she thinking that Hego would just get it? His world is so black and white it might as well have been animated in the 40s.

And then —

"I'm sorry."

Shego's heart starts pounding again. Oh God why.

Hego looks up and he — that fucker! He shed a single tear! He runs his ape-like forearm across the grief and shakily gets to his feet. "Shego, I should have listened — I'm sorry, I — _I_ am supposed to be a superhero! But I hurt you so much you ran away and — " He falls back and clutches his eyes, shoving his glasses off so his palm can really get in there. " — Shego, you just said the most beautiful thing I've ever heard and — and — I'm so sorry…"

Wow, talk about pathetic — uh, for both of them. Shego's crying too, and it feels kind of wrong to stand so awkwardly apart, so she allows him to come over and hug her, at least for a few seconds.

"So you'll help Kimmie?" Shego squeaks.

Hego nods without saying anything, and Shego suddenly feels rotten for so grossly misjudging him.

Shego's hand falls to his hair, gently massaging his scalp. "It's okay. It'll be okay," she whispers, not sure where this nurturing instinctive is coming from. But it is working, and it does sort of make her feel better about herself, since ya know, she's so shitty and everything...

Oh God.

Is Kimmie going to hug her and sob loudly when they make up too?

Please.

Have mercy.


	5. It's Just That I Don't Love Myself

It's never enough. Her plan to take over the world by destroying its defender, Global Justice, is dismantled fast. Though in the basement to Kim's lair holds a museum's worth of other strategies for takeover schemes that Kim prepared in lieu of her potential failure, she didn't count on all of Team Go showing up to stop her. No matter how smart she might be, Kim cannot hold her own against superheroes forever.

It's over.

Team Go defeats Kim Possible's minions handedly. They bypass the traps Senor Senior Sr. laid out for heroes like them, and even go as far as dismantling the Spinning Tops of Doom. Kim knows how they were able to so easily do all this; Shego was smart and picked up on what Kim would do if she took a gig working with the Seniors, and rightly assumed that Kim had taken over. Thus prompting her to kidnap Senor Senior Sr. for an interrogation.

That itself doesn't bother Kim; she can only blame herself for being so transparent.

What truly frustrates her is that Shego won't make eye contact with Kim when it comes to the face-off; Hego does all the talking.

Kim stands high above Team Go on the platform that mounts her Death Ray. A spiral staircase twirling around the spire leads to her in this dome-shaped room. Kim stays a safe distance away from the metal railing, glowering at the colorful band of heroes.

"Step down from the podium Miss Possible," Hego's words bounce off his puffed out chest and reverberate around the Death Ray Room. "None of us want to hurt you. We just want to talk."

Shego noticeably averts her eyes from the whole affair, so Kim mirrors her attitude. Hand rested on the control panel, she stands in silence, letting the warmth emanating from her machine remind of her of what she is to do. "Do you know what I'm precisely aiming at right now?" she asks.

"Well, uh, no," Hego says sheepishly. "I can only assume it's bad though!"

Kim rolls her eyes. "Define _bad_. I'm aiming at Global Justice."

Hego blinks and finally Shego snaps out of her cowardice, sparing a surprised glance at Kim before looking away. Hego steps forward, "The people at Global Justice are — "

" — manipulative," Kim cuts him off. "They tried to make me into a war machine, they stole my childhood, stole my — " she hesitates, not wanting to come off as too dramatic. But supervillains are supposed to have good monologues; she just needs to commit. " — soul. What I do is only because of them, and they must be destroyed before they ruin another hero like me."

"You're not a hero," Hego snaps. "You're trying to kill people!"

Kim throws her whole head back to let loose a wild gust of laughter. It makes her feel alive. Her stagnant bones creak from the sudden movement. "You talk to me as if you'd know! Last time I checked, throwing the same villains in jail every week doesn't make you a hero — it makes you a performative — " Her fingers twitch besides her bowed head while she fishes for the word. " — authoritarian symbolic with the system!"

Hego scratches his head. "Uh… Mego, Shego? A little help here?"

Shego just turns farther away. Mego, seemingly hoping for Shego to table that, sighs dramatically. "She's calling you a thespian, man. And it's fair, we don't do shit."

"Oh," Hego sighs. "Um… well, if it wasn't for us, Aviairius would have robbed the bank and — "

"Aw, oh no, poor bank," Kim pouts, slapping a hand to her cheek, leaning deeper into the Death Ray's console. "As if they need the money. Considering the way they crashed our economy — in fact, I'd daresay you guys are the villains for stopping _me_. _ I _am making a choice that — "

Something about all this feels so right, to rant and rave like a true mad man. She's witnessed so many stooges like Dementor and Monkey Fist give into the temptation of monologuing, and always found it to be so worthless — that is, until she's done one herself. In fact, aside from the time Shego ate her out last, this is the happiest she has felt in literal years.

For once in her life, she's accomplishing something meaningful. She is exhibiting her control. That is, until —

"Guys, you realize Kimmie's just stalling, right?" Shego says to the room, staring mostly at Hego with crossed arms. "She's just charging up the stupid Death Ray."

Hego blinks. "Is that so?"

Kim blinks back, and then dives against the control panel, swtiching and flipping everything she can to get the stupid machine to shoot that dumb beam through the hole in the wall and annhiliate Global Justice Headquartera as soon as possible when —

_Thunk._

Kim pivots back and sees Hego drop down besides her, arms primed to batter her against the ground. He grinds his teeth and leaps at her. She's obviously not strong enough to push back and ends up getting throttled against the ground. She screams, kicking her feet again and again against his torso, but his body is as hard as a rock. She hurts herself more than him. His hand paws her by the chin, and forces her head back.

Kim peeks past Hego's arms to see her Death Ray, the barrel is glowing and within seconds, all Kim will need to do is hit the damn button. But she can't when this freakin' gorilla is on top of her.

How humiliating. Team Go just watches from below, not needing to get up there to stop her. But Kim knew this — she always knew she'd lose because she has no powers. No one takes her seriously because of that. Well it's time to show them what she's capable of.

"Hey Hego," Kim hisses, "I'm sleeping with Shego."

Hego's eyes nearly bulge out of his domino mask. "I'm sorry — WHAT?!"

In his distraction, Hego's flesh untenses. Kim knees the Big Kahuna in the stomach, giving her just enough leverage to sock him in the jaw. She gets to her feet, pushing him back while he's still stunned, and twists her whole body into a flying kick. Her heel flies back, soaring over her hip and then her head, arching like a crane directly into Hego's flat face. He falls back and Kim rushes at the Death Ray, smashing the button to fire the beam.

Problem is she didn't directly account for Hego's height, and just before she smashes the button his head slams against the back of the Death Ray, throwing the immaculately aimed machine off course. It twirls against its metal supports and points nearly straight down — then Kim presses the button at a bad time — and _BOOM! _the white hot energy blasts from the machine and surges towards where Team Go stands.

"SHEGO!" Kim screams, throwing herself against the railing of her platform.

The beam cleaves through the stone wall, etching out a massive gap. Light spills into the dark room as the beam rides from the wall to the floor, rocks crumbling everything. The whole lair quakes, and then there's this CRACK! sound that rattles every bone in Kim's body, even punching her heart and rolling it about her innards like it's nothing.

When Kim squints past the white light, she sees a much smaller burst of green energy holding it back. Squinting more, she can just make out Shego's face through the onslaught. Though it drills into her hands with the power to destroy an entire military complex, Shego still stands. "Shego," Kim whimpers, looking back to Hego who is already cluelessly smacking buttons on the control panel. "It's too late," Kim says, noting that none of the necessary buttons appear to be working. "We can't shut it off like that."

Hego looks up, tears spilling out of his eyes, thankfully clinging to the underbelly of his mask so that no one has to pity him too much. "Then what do we…"

Kim freezes. And thinks.

Her plan failed; Global Justice is fine. Shego isn't though, nor is Kim's lair which is about to collapse. Whatever she wanted to be written in history books about her will never happen, and after this she will go to jail like any other common crook.

"We work together," Kim rasps, scanning the room rapidly. "Hego, my lair is crumbling. If we don't stop the avalanche of stone, this tower is coming straight down. You need to stop it. Can you do that?"

Hego hesitates. "I'll try."

"Good," Kim snaps, turning to the Wegos. "My minions, I'm assuming you left them alive, are scattered everywhere, unconscious. Find them. Get them out."

Finally, she looks to Mego. "You shrink, right?"

Mego nods.

"Get up here," Kim waves for him to do so. "I'll tell you what to do. You're going inside the Death Ray and deactivating manually. Got it?"

Hego steps forward and slips a hand onto Kim's shoulder. "Kim, we — "

"Do you want to save your sister or not?!"

That scares the jeepers out of Hego. He steps back, and looks down to his sister, through the exploding green and white light, and nods. "Okay."

* * *

The lair crumbles while Team Go does their work. In an odd moment of pride, Kim takes in a deep breath and sucks in the cascading dust and ash; it's another villain moment. First the scheme, then the monologue and maniacal laughter, now this: the destruction of her lair triggered by a pitifully small-scale accident.

Though Kim's hands squeeze the railings in a death grip. Her emerald eyes burrow into Shego's hard gaze. This is the one woman Kim never ever wanted to hurt, and now she has to watch as that woman suffers. Any of what Kim does next needs to be for Shego; there is no other way.

Already, her mind blasts into the future as she struggles to imagine what the people will say. She is infamous to the public by now, largely due to the lack of real damage she's done. She's bad, but not quite bad enough to not be exonerated as celebrity. That's the one thing that can save her soul. But when her lair falls apart because of her hubris, she imagines the people will let it stand as some kind of monument, maybe as a warning to those who dare to be ambitious like her.

Kim's eyes narrow when they cross the hole the beam was supposed to pass through, and she imagines those cretins at Global Justice screaming as they are burnt into nothingness. She winces. Because it's wrong.

She raps a knuckle against the side of her Death Ray. "Mego, update. What's the sitch?"

Mego doesn't respond. Either because he died navigating the circuitry in that thing, or because he's focused on something. Otherwise he'd be yapping loudly about whatever it is he talks about. Kim doesn't know him, but remembers that Shego liked him enough.

A crackling sound comes from the nozzle to the Death Ray and the light blinks out before coming back in. Kim's eyes widen and she cranes her neck closer, wondering if the purple man actually pulled it off, and sure enough he did. The Death Ray's beam goes out, and she feels a rumble from under the metal as Mego works his way out.

Kim looks straight down at Shego below, body folded in on itself, this uncomfortably loud wheezing coming from her throat. She still might die without medical attention. Kim turns on her heels and sees Mego leap out and expand to his full height before her. His face is smeared with ash, hair askew and burnt at the tips, but otherwise he's okay.

"Get Shego help," Kim says fast. "You're good for that, right?"

Mego nods. "You have a getaway vehicle, right?"

Kim feels cold. "No. I didn't account on needing one, this is my last — " _stand _" — let's not make this about me. Your sister's dying. Take care."

Mego frowns, sparing a glance down at her. "Yeah, but Shego wants you alive. Just come with, it's fine."

Kim notes that Mego speaks to her like he knows her; she doesn't like that. She turns away, shaking her head. "I have databases that need to be wiped out so that no one else may use them. Super weapons that a guy like you might want disabled."

Truth be told she'd rather run, let the lair tumble onto the room with her plans, but that might not work. Kim needs to ensure that what she wants destroyed is.

Mego grabs Kim's shoulder roughly. "No."

Kim hears Shego coughing from down below. She shrugs Mego off him. "You want me to fight you? I'll win."

Mego glowers at her, taking one threatening step forward when there's a loud crash. Both people stutter, falling against the railing. Kim scans the room fast, the boom was too loud to be far away. But nothing in the room gave way, so it must be — Kim's eyes widen and she lurches backwards.

Shego's eyes glow with fire while her fists dive into the stone wall separating her from Kim and Mego. She grinds her teeth and screams with each punch that embeds her fist. The lair quakes from her sheer strength.

Eventually, she reaches the top. Mego yells at her to stop or she'll inadvertently kill herself, but Shego doesn't appear to be too cogniscient. She waltzes straight up to Kim, and wow is her aura hot. It hurts just to stand near here. Shego's fingers gnarl into her palms and she grips Kim by the shoulders, looking her in the eyes. Though all Kim can see is fire.

"If you think it's the right thing to do, Princess," Shego strains to say. "Then do it."

Kim blinks. "Uh."

Shego shakes her head and drags her face forward, pressing her lips against Kim.

Usually, Shego tastes like pine but today Kim's lips just go numb, yet somehow it's her favorite of their kisses. Shego pulls away, flames hiding any expression that might be on her face, and she finally collapses onto Mego's arm.

"Holy shit," Mego murmurs, blinking rapidly to catch up. "Um. Fuck. She's — she's dying, I — "

"You'll save her," Kim forces a smile. "I'm going to do what Shego just told me to. Please trust her."

* * *

It's so dark under the lair, which is like an inverse evil lair that flips under the ocean. If this place were to get wrecked by the avalanche, water would pour in and Kim would drown. But it seems safe enough, though the rumble does frighten her.

This area does look like a museum, which is the issue. It's all these gadgets she's lifted through her years of thievery and grunt work. Fortunately, she knows all the super weapons well enough to know how to dismantle them, how to make them unrecognizable. Sometimes she uses her fists to dent the metal, her hands to tear apart the cables and supports. Other times she uses the weapons against each other.

The fire gives her just enough light to see.

Dust falls from above in streams, and it makes Kim's eyes blur in tears. She could suffocate down here too, or rather, she probably will. Ever since the Death Ray swung onto Shego, it became obvious that Kim's death was the most imminent of all of them.

It's fine. Kim deserves this, it's what she's been working towards for so long. Ever since Global Justice took her in, she never once expected to live a long life. Violent lives end violently and all that.

Her fingers dance across the keyboard to her computer. In it are the schematics to multiple take-over-the-world schemes, in addition to top secret blue prints that could get people — like all the Global Justice agents — killed. Today is the only day she's ever utilized any of it. But she knows that in the wrong hands, it could be worse. No one can ever read these documents.

There's a crash, and Kim hears water throttling over stone and dumping into the dark room. She peers past her shoulder to see the faintest hint of light beyond the busted open crevasse, and looks back to the computer, fingers slowing down. So she was wrong in her estimates that a self-destruct wouldn't affect this bunker.

But it's fine. Her life doesn't really matter.

"...Kim?" a familiar voice calls out. Definitely Hego. She doesn't want to look, though she can see his reflection in the computer monitor. Perfectly silhouetted by the dark. But why would he be down here? He shouldn't know about this place… unless… Mego probably said something.

"Shego's on her way to a medical facility," Hego says in a solemn voice. "The Wegos and Mego are with her, in addition to one of your fathers. And Ann."

One of…

Oh no.

"Kimberly Ann?" the nasally voice of her second dad calls into the dark. She sees him duck his oblong head underneath Hego's thick arms. "Why are you doing this?"

Kim jerks her head up, shoulders hunching like a scared cat. "A real super-villain could destroy the world if they had access to what I've come up with."

Kim can imagine Drew brushing past the little fires she's made from all the gadgets and gizmos that she's collected. "It's astonishing work… but… erm… we're here to save you."

"I know," Kim says. "I'm not coming."

Drew's footsteps stop. He's reasonably far away, possibly because he's scared of her. She understands that, she would be too. "Why?" he asks.

Kim sighs, and her mouth moves on its own. "I haven't done anything to warrant a death penalty. If I go to jail, someone will break me out, and I'll either go back to this, or I'll be used as some kind of weapon. Like what Global Justice did to me."

"Kimberly Ann," Drew says quietly. He always calls her that, like she's some kind of adversary to him. Perhaps because she's his equal in many ways, or perhaps because she followed in his footsteps, and it got her burnt. "Kim…" he tries that out. She kinda prefers the cold distance of Kimberly Ann. "...we'll protect you. No — no one's been hurt by you. You can go home."

Kim frowns. That doesn't make sense, or — or maybe it does… she doesn't know. But it hasn't been the plan.

"Sheila loves you, you know," Drew says plainly, as if she didn't know, as if that wasn't making this all so hard. "We do too. We… we only hired her to help us because we knew she wouldn't go too rough on you."

Kim never thought about that, but that makes sense too. "Please go away."

"No," Drew says, stubborn as always. "Not without you. You're… you're our whole world."

Kim turns on her heel, accusational finger poised to jab at him; she's waited years to unload on him. But all the rants and raves fizzle at her tongue, because though the room is nearly pitch black, she sees more details on her father's face than she should. Worse yet, his skin is tinted _green_. "Wh-what? H-how…?"

"Uh… heh, Hego lied," Drew flashes his teeth nervously and steps back, revealing a hunched over Shego behind him. She extends her spine and looks Kim in the eye, green light emanating from her body, blue rings around her arms and thighs glowing. She's in the supersuit Kim lent her.

"Healing factor," Shego shrugs simply. "Uh, we were sort of hoping you and your dad would get off just fine, and that I'd just make you nervous, but you're lowkey being a piece of shit right now so…"

Kim narrows her eyes. "Well — like — what?! What am I supposed to do, just go home with you guys and act like none of this happened?!"

"Yes," Drew says before anyone can get two cents in.

"How?!" Kim screams. "I'm a supervillain, a — "

" — a _bad_ supervillain," Shego snorts. "Note: Still breathing, Princess."

Kim's mouth stays slackjawed for a moment, and then she rubs her face. This is unbelievable. "No, Shego, I'm — shit. No. I _can't_ just go home. It's done. I sold my soul and everything, look at — look at all this stuff I just destroyed. _I_ brought it here, _I'm_ bad."

Shego snorts again, crossing her arms. "Sounds like a you problem." And then tilts her head to the side. "Just kidding. Kimmie, obviously we'll take care of you. You just have to make the decision."

Kim blinks, frustrated beyond belief. How can Shego nearly die and be so — so — so rude!

"Hey, can we hurry up with this shit?" Mego slurs from the back, stepping into the dark room, swinging one of his legs back and forth in the air. "All this saltwater is getting into my socks and — "

"Mego, please," Hego says seriously. "The girls are — "

"Yeah, yeah," Mego shakes his head. "We all know they're porking, so can we get a move on?"

Kim blushes. "H-how do you know that?!"

Mego looks up at her in disbelief. "Besides when you told us?" Oh yeah, that's true. "It was all over Snapchat."

Kim looks to Shego, ready to throttle her against the ground and actually murder her. "SNAPCHAT?!"

"I thought we were a thing!" Shego screams back.

"We were!" Kim shouts, running her hand against her face. "We can be… just… dammit, no, this is stupid. I'm going to jail if you take me out of here, and I'd rather die here than — "

Drew starts muttering something. Kim would like to keep ranting but it's very distracting. "Dad?"

Drew looks up from his finger that he's been nibbling at. "Nyrgh, I have an idea. What if — " He cuts himself off and stomps over to Kim's computer, immediately making fast edits to her documents.

"D-dad, what? No, don't…"

"No no no… there!" Drew ignores her, sticking a triumphant finger in the air. "These plans are now written by Doctor Drakken! A _genius_ inspired by the original, even genius_er_ Drakken — that being me — and if you turn _these_ over to Global Justice, then — "

Everything collapses in Kim's throat. Her hips bumps against the console and her face goes red. She's planned this so heavily, why are they now just flipping it over and making things easy for her? It's not right. It's…

Shego grabs Kim by the cheek, gently. "You ready for another kiss, Princess?"

Kim frowns. "My lips are still numb from earlier, so uh — we can put a pin on that…" She looks away from Shego's hand and at everyone else. Even the Wegos and her other parents stayed behind, climbing through the hole to bring their daughter home.

It's… it's the first time since high school that she's felt like she has a family.

She really doesn't have much of a choice, and wraps her arms around Shego's back, pressing her jaw into the woman's shoulder.

* * *

"Ron, please come out of the shadows."

Ron's pale face slinks up and out of the dark. Seemingly annoyed, he marches up to Kim. It looks like he hasn't slept in days. It makes her feel bad, seeing how well-kempt she is. Dressed in a blazer, blouse, and skirt, she is nothing short of professional.

"KP, if you're going to try to break me out again — "

"I'm not," Kim interrupts, finding it very hard to make eye contact. She tugs on her hair. "Um… I am guessing you've been following my exploits these past few months?"

Ron nods, probably pissed at her for continuing to help all the wrong people.

"Well, I ratted them out," Kim says, bowing her head so he can't see how much she hates herself for that. "I'm… I'm an informant, a-and in exchange, I got a pardon."

Kim looks up and Ron seems nonplussed, though she knows he's happy for her, he's just miserable back here. The only thing he ever could have been an informant against is Kim. And she's already turned herself in.

"It was a joint deal, Ron," Kim adds on. "Me _and_ you. I didn't let them offer anything else."

Ron blinks, and thumbs his nose. "What?"

"You're free, Ron," Kim forces a smile. It's hard to keep it cool. She only got the pardon for his sake. "I know that's a lot, you can think about it, and I'll come back tomorrow for your answer but…"

"Wh-what?!" Ron gasps, and lets out a mighty laugh that echoes through his private cell. "Ha! Kim! Wow! Wh-wh-wh-why would I stay here? Dude, I'm _in_! Get me outta here, _please_!"

For some reason, it shocks her. She didn't really expect such a speedy reaction, but that's probably because she still feels like she doesn't deserve it. A few minutes later, some guards escort her out and as promised, Shego is waiting for her in her civilian outfit. Skinny jeans, tanktop, and a bomber jacket.

Kim offers her hand daintily, and Shego snags it fast, Kim's knuckle thumping against Shego's hip.

"See, Kimmie, that wasn't so hard," Shego grins as they walk off.

Kim shakes her head. "You know I only took the pardon to get him out, right? He deserves it way more than me, he never went beyond small-time and..." She could go on and on, but she's done this with Shego before, the whole pity fiesta thing. It's not new, and defnitely not cute.

Shego frowns; not wanting to get into this again. It took so long to reach a deal because while securing Kim's pardon was easy, getting Ron's was not. Betty definitely wanted Kim to suffer, probably because she could tell something fishy was going on. What with the reuse of the Doctor Drakken monicker. Wanting to shift topics, Shego says with some assumed relief, "Yeah, but you still took the offer, Kimmie. It's a good thing."

Kim looks away. She still feels really shitty about all of it.

"Hey."

Shego twists around Kim and ends up in front of her. She looks Kim dead in the eyes and gently takes her by the shoulders. Kim almost wants to tell Shego not to hold her like that, seeing how it reminds her of what happened in her lair a few weeks back, but the touch _is_ nice…

"You — are — so — loved," Shego says carefully.

For a second, Kim's chest feels light, but the old dread comes back fast. She tilts her head away. "Easy enough for you to say, I need therapy or something, I feel like shit."

Shego takes that very seriously. "Okay, we'll find you a therapist."

"Shego, that's not what I — "

"Kimmie," Shego leans in more. "Get better. Not for my sake, but yours. Please and thank you?"

Ugh, her own vernacular used against her. Shego picked up on so many Kimm-isms so fast. She's like a more tolerable version of Ron.

"Ugh, fine," Kim groans, brushing the hair out of her eye while she tries to think of something positive. "Oh, uh, I forgot to tell you."

Kim gets in closer, lips a mere inch away from Shego's.

'That numbness in my lips finally went away," Kim says kinda noncommittally. Truth is, she got the feeling back pretty soon after Shego's flaming lips touched hers, she just hasn't been ready for it.

But now she knows she just has to take these things when offered, because she's pretty damn lucky to be in this position.

Shego bites her lip, eyes really taking Kim in. "Perf."

They kiss for an absurdly long time. Kind of like the ending to a fantasy book, a genre that Kim doesn't really associate with. For whatever reason, good things keep happening to her. Despite everything she did.

And as the years go on, she realizes she never really did anything that bad. She actually did a lot of good things.

So it kinda makes sense good things happen to her.


End file.
